Spill Containment Mat System

ABSTRACT

A modular spill containment mat having a pan element and a support grating overlay. The pan element has one or more support beams under the grating to support a vehicle. A sidewall drain is provided, as well as openings in the grating for vacuum hose extraction. Each containment mat may be connected to one or more adjacent mats to form a larger mat. The containment mat may be used to prevent spills during refueling of vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many industries require the use of vehicles and other equipment which must be regularly refueled. It is common for such refueling to take place in a location which does not have spill containment infrastructure. As such, there is a need for a transportable spill containment mat which can prevent release into the environment of fuels used in the fueling of on-road and off-road equipment.

Prior art spill containment mats have demonstrated a number of shortcomings. Primarily, they have been unwieldy, too large and too heavy for ease of transportation and use. For example, a typical prior art spill containment mat may have dimensions of 12 feet by 40 feet and weigh 23,000 pounds. Disadvantages with such a spill containment mat include the requirement that large lifting equipment be available to load the mat onto a truck. Also, the large weight and size of such a prior art unit made repositioning of the mat difficult within the fueling yard.

In prior art spill containment mats, the grating placed above the spill pan was not fixed to the pan, thereby permitting unintended lifting of the grating by the equipment being fueled. For example, the track drowsers of off-road equipment could catch and lift the grating.

Drains for removal of spilled materials were provided in the bottom of the pan in the prior art mats. The position of the drain on the bottom of the pan required lifting of one or both ends of the pan to allow the contained fluids to pass through the drain.

In circumstances where refueling at a particular site was required several times per year, these difficulties were compounded, encouraging the development in the present invention of a spill containment mat which overcomes these shortcomings. Ideally, such a spill containment mat should be readily loadable and transportable to a fueling site. The grating atop the containment pan should be resistant to lifting by the equipment being refueled. Ideally, draining of fluids contained in the mat should be achievable without the need to lift the containment mat.

As described below and depicted in the accompanying drawings, the spill containment mat of the present invention achieves these objectives.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is provided a modular spill containment mat having a rectangular pan with a bottom tray, first and second opposing side walls, and first and second opposing end walls; a plurality of spaced structural beams extending between first and second side walls in parallel to the end walls, each beam having at least one opening along its lower edge adjacent the bottom tray; and a grating reversibly connectable to the top of the pan, above the side walls, end walls, and beams; wherein at least one side wall has at least one drain opening.

The grating may have opposing side sections separated by a central section, with each of the side sections and central section separately removable from the containment mat. Each side section of the grating further may have at least one removable plate for insertion therethrough of a vacuum hose or other debris removal apparatus.

The mat may include locking means for releasably securing the grating to the pan, the locking means in the form of an elongated channel iron connected to one end wall and reversibly attachable to a corresponding end of each section of the grating. The top surface of the grating may be serrated. The grating may have a thickness of between 1 and 4 inches, preferably 2 inches. Each side wall may be between 10 and 14 feet long, preferably 12 feet long. Each end wall may be between 6 and 10 feet long, preferably 8 feet long. There may be at least one handle on the outside of each side wall and on the outside of each end wall.

In another of its aspects, there is provided a spill containment system, having a plurality of modular spill containment mats and latching means for connecting each containment mat to an adjacent mat side-to-side or end-to-end. The latching means may be an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one side of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to a side of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat. The latching means may be an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one end of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to an end of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat.

In other embodiments, each of the modular spill containment mats may be triangular, pentagonal or hexagonal, and may be assembled into a larger containment mat system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed description of the invention is provided below, with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the top of the spill containment mat of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the side of the spill containment mat of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the end of the spill containment mat of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the spill containment mat of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the spill containment mat of the present invention with the grating removed;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the spill containment mat of the present invention with the grating removed;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a side section of the grating, showing two removable plates for removal of contained material by vacuum hose;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view through line 8--8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a central section of the grating; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view through line 10--10 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

There is provided a spill containment mat system comprising one or more interconnectable pan elements 4 and a grating element 6 associated with each pan element. The pan element preferably comprises a bottom tray 8 having dimensions of 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Other dimensions are also possible within the scope of the invention. A pair of opposing side walls 10, 12 extend perpendicularly upwardly from the opposing sides of the tray. The opposing side walls are connected to each other at their ends by a pair of opposing end walls 14, 16 which extend perpendicularly upwardly from the opposing ends of the tray to form a containment pan. Preferably, the walls of the containment pan are 8 inches high, although other dimensions are also possible within the scope of the invention.

During refueling, equipment or vehicles will be positioned above the spill containment mat. To provide structural support for this equipment, a plurality of parallel beams 18 may extend between the side walls of each pan, defining sub-sections 20 of the pan between adjacent beams. One or more openings 22 in each beam permits spilled fluids to flow between sub-sections within a single pan to a drain or vacuum hose opening for removal. The openings through each beam are adjacent the tray of the pan, leaving the top of each beam integral for increased structural strength and optimal support to the equipment being fueled on the spill containment mat.

A grating overlays the pan to provide support for the vehicle or equipment to be fueled. Preferably, the grating is 2 inches thick, but other thicknesses are also possible within the scope of the invention. In a preferred embodiment, the grating covering each pan is comprised of a central section 24 and a pair of opposed side sections 26, 28. Each grating section may be separately removed from the spill pan.

The grating covering the pan preferably has a serrated top surface to reduce the slip hazard to operators walking on the surface of the grating. The grating covers the entire surface of the pan to allow containment of a spill anywhere within the area covered by the spill containment mat.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the grating includes a locking mechanism 30 to prevent the grating from being lifted or bent by any equipment which may catch on the grating. The locking mechanism is an elongated piece of flat iron, preferably 8 feet long having a 15 degree bend in the centre with countersunk welded bolts therein. The bolts may be inserted into corresponding openings in the channel iron and secured with nuts.

Each of the grating sections for each pan includes a small plate, preferably no more than 4 inches long, to connect the grating section to the pan. Removal of this plate permits the grating to be lifted out of the pan for cleaning.

Each of the side sections of the grating include one or more removable plates 32 in the surface of the grating. Removal of one of the removable plates creates an opening into which a vacuum hose may be inserted to remove the materials contained in the pan, without the need for complete removal of one or more sections of the grating.

In operation, the size of the spill containment mat may be determined for each job. The spill containment mat comprises a plurality of connectable pans, each with grating elements. Each pan is preferably 8 feet wide by 12 feet long. Individual pans may be connected to other pads to form spill containment mats of a desired length and width. For example, a spill containment mat may be assembled which has a length of any multiple of 8 feet for the preferred embodiment. This flexibility permits tailoring the length requirements of the spill containment mat to each particular job.

The dimensions of the individual pans permit loading, unloading and transport of the pans with smaller loading equipment. In particular, by limiting the width of each individual pan to less than 8.5 feet, a truck or trailer may be loaded to its weight capacity without the exceeding overwidth restrictions. It is also noted that a spill containment mat 40 feet long is not required by many users, who generally are able to achieve their spill containment with much smaller spill containment mats.

Each pan of the spill containment mat includes a latching mechanism 34 for interconnection of the ends or sides of the individual pans. The latching mechanism is a bent piece of long plate, preferably ¼″×12′, welded to one side of the containment mat which may slide over the adjacent mat and fall into place to secure the mats together.

Each pan furthermore includes lateral projections at the top of the side walls to extend over the connection between adjacent pans, thereby preventing spills between the pans.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each pan includes one or more drains 36 set into the side wall or end wall of the pan. Locating the one or more drains on the pan wall decreases the likelihood of blockage or damage of the drain as compared to a drain positioned on the bottom of a pan. The wall position of the drain furthermore permits addition of water filtration and other fluid treatment processing of the spilled fluids without the need to raise the pan or install piping under the pan.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each pan of the multi-pan spill containment mat is self-contained, without means for movement of fluid or other materials between adjacent pans. This feature reduces the potential scope of a breach of an individual pan by limiting any spill to the fluids contained in that pan, rather than the content of the entire spill containment mat, as is the risk for prior art mats in which individual pan elements are interconnected for fluid flow between pan elements.

In alternate embodiments, the containment mat may be triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, or any other selected geometry which will permit modular assembly to form a larger containment mat.

As has been shown, the spill containment mat of the present invention overcomes the challenges of prior art devices.

It is to be understood that the description and drawings provided are non-limiting in scope and other embodiments are understood to be within the scope of the present invention. 

1. A modular spill containment mat, comprising: a rectangular pan having a bottom tray, first and second opposing side walls, and first and second opposing end walls; a plurality of spaced structural beams extending between first and second side walls in parallel to the end walls, each beam having at least one opening along its lower edge adjacent the bottom tray; and a grating reversibly connectable to the top of the pan, above the side walls, end walls, and beams; wherein at least one side wall has at least one drain opening.
 2. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein the grating comprises opposing side sections separated by a central section, each of the side sections and central section separately removable from the containment mat.
 3. The containment mat of claim 2, wherein each side section of the grating further comprises at least one removable plate for insertion therethrough of a vacuum hose or other debris removal apparatus.
 4. The containment mat of claim 1, further comprising a locking means for releasably securing the grating to the pan.
 5. The containment mat of claim 4, wherein the locking means comprises an elongated channel iron connected to one end wall and reversibly attachable to a corresponding end of each section of the grating.
 6. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein the top surface of the grating is serrated.
 7. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein the grating has a thickness of between 1 and 4 inches.
 8. The containment mat of claim 7, wherein the grating has a thickness of 2 inches.
 9. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein each side wall is between 10 and 14 feet long, and each end wall is between 6 and 10 feet long.
 10. The containment mat of claim 9, wherein each side wall is 12 feet long, and each end wall is 8 feet long.
 11. The containment may of claim 1, further comprising at least one handle on the outside of each side wall and on the outside of each end wall.
 12. A spill containment system, comprising: a plurality of the spill containment mats of claim 1; latching means for connecting each containment mat to an adjacent mat side-to-side or end-to-end.
 13. The spill containment system of claim 12, wherein the latching means comprises an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one side of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to a side of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat.
 14. The spill containment system of claim 12, wherein the latching means comprises an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one end of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to an end of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat.
 15. A modular spill containment mat, comprising: a containment pan having a bottom tray, and a plurality of contiguous walls extending upwardly along each edge; one or more spaced structural beams extending between at least one pair of the walls, each beam having at least one opening along its lower edge adjacent the bottom tray; and a grating reversibly connectable to the top of the pan, above the walls and beams; wherein at least one wall has at least one drain opening.
 16. The spill containment mat of claim 15, wherein the bottom tray is triangular.
 17. The spill containment mat of claim 15, wherein the bottom tray is pentagonal
 18. The spill containment mat of claim 15, wherein the bottom tray is hexagonal. 